The video, which shows Google’s first company-wide meeting after the 2016 election, could add more fuel to charges leveled at the tech company regarding its alleged liberal bias.

“As an immigrant and a refugee, I certainly find this election deeply offensive and I know many of you do too. I think it’s a very stressful time and it conflicts with many of our values,” said Brin, who is originally from Russia.

The US is entering “a period of great uncertainty,” he added, especially for minorities, immigrants, and women. Similar concerns were echoed by Google CFO Ruth Porat, who broke into tears during the meeting and called on employees hug one another.

The Details

Google responded to the leaked video by claiming that employees’ personal views do not influence how their products are designed to perform. But we have already seen proof that Google filters its search results to promote liberal content.

“This video is the smoking gun,” says Media Research Center President Brent Bozell. “Google’s leadership is decidedly anti-Trump and there is no doubt that their company reflects that. We need hearings now. Google cannot continue to run and hide.”

Google is already facing increased scrutiny over its business practices, and lawmakers have held multiple hearings to discuss the tech giant’s liberal bias. After the 2016 election, the company was found to have altered its search algorithms to hide negative information about Hillary Clinton.

Last week, Google failed to send an executive to testify alongside Facebook and Twitter. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is investigating the company’s handling of user data, and Senator Orrin Hatch (R) has called on the feds to reopen an antitrust probe that was closed in 2013.

Google controls “91% of all search and they get to decide what everyone sees,” tweeted Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. “If this isn’t a monopoly I don’t know what is.”

In The Shadows

The Headline

Former Sec. of State John Kerry accused of undercutting Trump Administration’s policy on Iran

The Grind

Former Sec. of State John Kerry on Wednesday told radio host Hugh Hewitt he has met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif “three or four times” since leaving the White House in 2017.

Such meetings are viewed with suspicion from the current administration, which believes Kerry is working against their official policy on Iran.

“John Kerry is out giving advice to Iran about how to maneuver around what Donald Trump is doing; it’s insidious,” argues former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. “I don’t know if it’s legal or illegal, I don’t care about that side of it. It’s wrong.”

It’s likely that Kerry’s meetings with Zarif and other leaders are a violation the Logan Act – a law prohibiting private citizens from negotiating on behalf of the federal government without authorization.

The Details

Kerry, who helped negotiate the Iran deal, insists his “conversations” with European and Iranian diplomats do not “interfere with policy.”

“What I have done is tried to elicit from him [Zarif] what Iran might be willing to do in order to change the dynamic in the Middle East for the better,” said Kerry.

News of Kerry’s ongoing diplomatic efforts come amid concerns that Iran and Europe are ‘waiting out’ Trump’s presidency in hopes that the next US president will rejoin the JCPOA.

“The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal,” tweeted Trump on Monday. “He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!”

In the meantime, full US sanctions are set to hit Iran in November.

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP:Did you know… One out of 20 people have an extra rib.